Team Obama getting worried about Santorum?; Update: DeWine to switch from Romney to Santorum?

posted at 11:35 am on February 17, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Until now, the Barack Obama re-election campaign has focused its rhetorical guns almost exclusively on Mitt Romney. The Wall Street Journal reports that may soon change, however. With Rick Santorum soaring at least for now to the top of the polls, they will begin adding him to their messaging hit list:

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has begun discussing whether to attack Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum and try to define him for a general-election audience, potentially breaking from its focus on Mitt Romney.

Obama campaign aides are stepping up their examination of Mr. Santorum’s record to assess his vulnerabilities and consider how their strategy might change if he becomes the GOP nominee.

For example, the Obama campaign has criticized Mr. Romney for shifting his policy stances and painted him as out of touch with middle-class Americans. That line of attack might not prove as effective against Mr. Santorum, who Obama advisers believe has gained ground in the nominating contest by looking more genuine and empathic to voters than Mr. Romney. …

But after Mr. Santorum’s surprise victory in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota last week, Obama campaign aides have been rethinking whether a Romney-centric approach still makes sense, campaign advisers said Thursday.

While other Republicans, notably Newt Gingrich, have risen to challenge Mr. Romney in recent months, Mr. Santorum looks to be a candidate whose appeal isn’t about to fade, they said.

In fact, Santorum’s rise seems to have caught Team Hopenchange a little flat-footed. How else to explain this weird e-mail bleg to its supporters in Pennsylvania, trolling for dirt in the Keystone State?

The campaign sent an e-mail asking Obama’s Keystone State supporters to submit their most damning “recollections” of Santorum, who served as a congressman and a senator from Pennsylvania for 16 years before losing reelection in 2006.

Santorum became a favorite target of liberals with his passionate statements against homosexuality and abortion, but despite his deeply conservative take on social issues, he has shown some ability to connect with blue-collar voters in the GOP presidential race — voters who have been a hard sell for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and could be crucial in a general election.

“Folks across the country are just starting to learn about Rick Santorum as he enjoys his newfound wave of popularity,” says the note, which was signed by Bill Hyers, Pennsylvania state director for Obama for America. “But people here have known him for some time. . . . And it’s on us to make sure the rest of the country sees Rick Santorum’s true colors.”

Will they start asking the “bitter clingers” in Pennsylvania, too? Team Obama seems very worried about that blue-collar vote, and they should be, especially in PA, to whom that “bitter clinger” remark was directed in 2008. Hillary Clinton beat Obama in Pennsylvania and Ohio by winning that demographic, and Santorum would be better positioned than Romney to do the same in a general election. Obama cannot win the White House if he loses both states in November, plus Indiana and possibly Wisconsin, where he’s already in trouble.

Meanwhile, the Santorum campaign just sent out an e-mail informing the media of a “major campaign announcement” in Ohio at 2 pm ET:

Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum will make a major campaign announcement this afternoon at the Ohio State House in Columbus, OH. All media are encouraged to attend.

I’d guess that Santorum picked up a major endorsement — perhaps Governor John Kasich. Don’t forget that Mitt Romney fumbled his statement of support for Kasich’s controversial PEU reforms last year, although he did end up making it very clear that he backed Kasich. If Kasich backs Santorum, that may go a long way towards rebutting Romney’s attacks on his campaign for being the candidate of Big Labor, which Santorum has vehemently disputed. If it’s not Kasich, it had better be someone significant like Senator Rob Portman or a figure of state-wide stature.

Update: It may not be Kasich, who has been neutral so far, but a switcher instead, according to BuzzFeed:

A top Ohio supporter of Governor Mitt Romney will switch sides and endorse Rick Santorum in Columbus this afternoon, a campaign source said. …

While Ohio Gov. John Kasich remains neutral, Romney has the support of a handful of top current and former Ohio officials, including Attorney General Mike DeWine, Rep. Jim Renacci, and former Senator George Voinovich.

Voinovich is more center-right than conservative, which would actually play in Santorum’s favor. A switcher always has some impact, but we’ll see soon enough how significant the endorser is. Also, I wrote “Pat Toomey” when I meant Rob Portman, and I’ve corrected it above.

DeWine and Santorum have a relationship dating back to their days in the Senate, which is why he would be the likeliest of the group. If that does prove true, it will be a huge boost to Santorum, and another very hard-to-spin headline for Romney.

If it’s someone with statewide standing, she’s right — it will add to a sense of momentum in Ohio that’s already gone Santorum’s way for the last two weeks.

Update III: WaPo reporter Dan Balz says that a “knowledgeable GOP strategist” says it’s DeWine, switching away from Romney. It’s a big deal, in part because of DeWine’s standing in the state, and in part because he’d been seen as a more moderate Republican in Ohio (like Voinovich). Santorum could use that as an argument that he has a better electability quotient than Romney, and the momentum will reinforce that message.

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Yeah, the great “conservative economists” who think that outsourcing all our jobs will somehow lead to more jobs here in the U.S. is really a winning strategy. And having everything made in China and India sure makes us more secure. s/

fight like a girl on February 17, 2012 at 1:59 PM

Santorum is doing what Obama is doing by selecting a certain sector of the economy and ONLY giving it tax-free breaks. as the economists state, the funding will have to pull THEIR WEIGHT making it an unfair advantage…and why? because, again, Santorum’s compassionate conservatism comes out as he WANTS to help that sector. Why not help the ENTIRE sector of America? This is what Bush did and Santorum’s record in Congress only proves he was WORSE than Bush in this area.

Don’t get me wrong I am with Santorum on 80% of his other conservative issues but the STRONG Social Con of him is what will make the moderates of our party and the Indies nervous and either not vote for him or run back to Obama as they will paint him as extreme, though we know on our side it is not true, but perception is reality.

NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.

Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban antipersonnel landmines
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same payraises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyranical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.
Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.
Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.
Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea
Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.
Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.
Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program

Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture)
Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge
Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN
Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge
Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit
Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge
Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge
Voted for James Brady to be District Judge

Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act
Voted against Real of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages
Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor
Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding
Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Voted for Job Corps funding
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization
Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.
Voted to exempt IRS union representative from criminal ethics laws.
Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.

Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.
Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device
Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.
Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.
Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.

Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.
Voted twice for a Congressional payraise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapits, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.
Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.
Voted for a McCain amendment to require State and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.

Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.

Taxes
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.

Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform
Voted against Medicaid reform
Voted against TANF reform
Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion
Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.
Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.

Waste
Sponsored An amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA)
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion
Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.
Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million
Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL)
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry
Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation
Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.
Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%
Voted against transferring $20 million from Americorps to veterans.
Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.
Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.

Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies an new entitlement.
Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.

Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.
Voted against a allow consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.

Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing
Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.
Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.

Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
Voted to make fuel price gouging a Federal crime.

Hotel near the airport. Apparently it was arranged by a conglomeration of 912 groups and Ohio Liberty groups. It’s free, but they’re taking donations from attendees to help defray the costs, and they’re piggybacking a food drive on top of it.

tdpwells on February 17, 2012 at 2:02 PM

Thank you. Sounds like they will have a good turnout. I think asking for donations is a good idea instead of a ticket fee. If I’m not mistaken the Ohio Liberty Group is connected to various Tea Party Locals.

Hope you get a chance to ask a question. Do you know where it’s going to be held? Columbus is a busy place on a Saturday:-)

bluefox on February 17, 2012 at 1:55 PM

Sorry – it’s tomorrow, not next Saturday. Been on vacation and my schedule is all off. ;-) He must be staying the night since he’s here today for the endorsement/announcement, and stopping to speak to the group on his way out in the morning.

tdpwells on February 17, 2012 at 2:06 PM

Didn’t see this until after I had already posted at 2:20PM
Thanks for the update. I know about vacations & schedules, LOL

Got it! you don’t like Santy. Your problem is we can get romneycare on a bumper sticker.

rik on February 17, 2012 at 2:29 PM

rik…
I never said I did NOT like RS. Read my other posts. I WILL vote for RS and also I like about 80% of what stands for…it was Erick Erickson, who I am NOT a big fan of, that posted all of RS’s voting record so he can be VETTED cause that is what we are supposed to do in the primary right? It just seems people do not like their Not-Romney candidate to get vetted. :o)

Romney is the obvious choice with the economy in the dumps and yet some keep wanting to look for other choices.

Bingo. Romney was on O’Reilly (or Hannity) last night. I’ve been listening to him very carefully and Romney cannot think on his feet or he’s been over-trained. I’d heard every word he said at least 20 times. He never directly answers questions, which is problemmatic.

Santorum is pretty much clean as a whistle and he has as much experience as Newt as regards how the government works, which is essential if you’re going to start dismanteling the behemoth. I don’t think Romney has any depth philosophically or historically and doesn’t know the real-politik.

Anyone who thinks Team Obama is “worried” about Rick Santorum should send their political instincts back for a refund.

The Obama campaign simply doesn’t have any research done because they had assumed the GOP voter base wasn’t retarded enough to actually nominate Santorum. Now that they are being proven wrong, they need to get the ball rolling.

Meanwhile, Team Obama is secretly thrilled at the prospect of running against the Sweater Vest. He’s an Obama landslide waiting to happen.

Well seeing as you got that off a “Rick Hater” site, it’s not surprising that you have no idea about those votes…absolutly none.
Some only a few voted against….oooooooh, what a scary list…
So he voted over 8,000 times on bills, and you find 100 that an internet hit site doesn’t like (of course you have no idea what 98 of those votes were for or what the bills were), so that makes his correct rate at 99.875%…or he is wrong 1.25% of the time.
I think that’s a pretty good record…It would be nice to have 100%, but 99.875% is awful close.
You just made a terrific find…Rick makes the correct decision over 99% of the time, round it out and it’s 100%….
Gee, all of a sudden that list isn’t so bad…is it?

Incumbent Dewine lost his senate race against against Sherod Brown by 15 pts. in 2006. He beat the pathetic Cordray for AG in the 2010 republican landslide 47.8%/46.0%. Dewine hasn’t shown to be an electoral powerhouse in Ohio for years.

Obama’s peeps will frame Santorum as some religious nut that wants to peep in your bedroom, take your birth control away and advocate that women should be in the kitchen. Also, they will make the presidential debate about Santorum’s weird SoCon beliefs instead of the economy. Obviously, the media will help him frame that debate. Santorum will lose by a landslide.

Obama’s peeps will frame Santorum as some religious nut that wants to peep in your bedroom, take your birth control away and advocate that women should be in the kitchen. Also, they will make the presidential debate about Santorum’s weird SoCon beliefs instead of the economy. Obviously, the media will help him frame that debate. Santorum will lose by a landslide.

rubberneck on February 17, 2012 at 3:43 PMObama’s peeps will frame Santorum as some religious nut that wants to peep in your bedroom, take your birth control away and advocate that women should be in the kitchen. Also, they will make the presidential debate about Santorum’s weird SoCon beliefs instead of the economy. Obviously, the media will help him frame that debate. Santorum will lose by a landslide.

rubberneck on February 17, 2012 at 3:43 PM

Most voters aren’t that stupid. They will vote based upon the economy. If they are employed, then the dummies will vote Obama.

You are kidding yourself. He is pretty much unelectable in the USA today. Santy is going to be labeled as a big government nanny stater who wants to regulate women’s ovaries and that wont be too far from the truth. The guy will never be president. We are throwing this opportunity away, as well as the last chance to salvage the country.

Law…You need to recheck Santorum’s stances as even ANTI-Romney Erick Erickson posted a whole slew of bills Santorum has backed and he is NOT as conservative as many think he is…
As for Romney you can go to his website as well as the guy ran in 2008 and so his record is out there and he is conservative. So many people on HA have bought into this idea that he is some HUGE liberal is ridiculous! People spout “facts” about him that are not even true ONLY because they have been repeated so much! Gay Marriage is one HE NEVER supported it. He stopped the state of MA from becoming the entry door for the rest of the nation so they could get married in MA and go back to their home states hoping their state would recognize the marriage. Cap-N-trade is another lie. He backed out of the RGGI deal yet there are HA posters stating he backed Cap-n-Trade. He also did not ban assault weapons as even the NRA of MA and G.O.A.L. the largest Gun Owners Action League in MA said the MEDIA AND PEOPLE got it wrong and it was a victory for gun owners the bill he signed.
See Here as one example:
Legislation: During the Romney Administration, no anti-Second Amendment or anti-sportsmen legislation made its way to the Governor’s desk.

Governor Romney did sign five pro-Second Amendment/pro-sportsmen bills into law. His administration also worked with Gun Owners’ Action League and the Democratic leadership of the Massachusetts House and Senate to remove any anti-Second Amendment language from the Gang Violence bill passed in 2006.

Chapter 150 of the Acts of 2004: An Act Further Regulating Certain Weapons
This is a perfect example of don’t believe in titles. The bill was the greatest victory for gun owners since the passage of the gun control laws in 1998 (Chapter 180 of the Acts of 1998). It was a reform bill totally supported by GOAL. Press and media stories around the country got it completely wrong when claimed the bill was an extension of the “assault weapon” ban that had sunset at the federal level. They could not have been more wrong. http://www.goal.org/newspages/romney.html

So there are MANY positions that people here believe are true and are false or they’ll twist the truth to give the appearance of liberalism.

Bottom line there is NOT a BETTER CANDIDATE for our current situation of the economy than Romney. There is a fact.

* has a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 88.2
* fought against the individual mandate for healthcare
* fought against government-run healthcare
* fought against cap-and-trade
* has always been pro-life
* helped take the congress back for the Republicans
* fought against bail-outs for banks
* fought against TARP

Mitt Romney:

* supported the individul mandate for healthcare
* supported government-run healthcare
* supported cap-and-trade
* has flip-flopped on right to life
* was not a Reagan supporter and was not to be found in 1994 w/re
to retaking the congress by the Republicans
* supported bail-outs for banks
* supported TARP.

Regardless of various votes Rick Santorum has made, some of which he says were mistakes, on the BIG ISSUES, Santorum is solid as a rock.

Romney is not conservative on the BIG ISSUES OF OUR TIME!
Santorum is !

Mark7788 on February 17, 2012 at 6:18 PM

Oh really?

From the WSJ:

)

“Mr. Sununu said he had been told that Mr. DeWine quit supporting Mr. Romney out of pique over an ad, by the Super PAC backing Romney, that criticized a bill that Santorum backed providing voting rights for felons. The bill was supported by only two other Republicans – Mr. DeWine was one.”

So, is supporting voting rights for felons something conservatives are supposed to do? How about supporting the earned income tax credit for illegals? Because Santorum did, in fact he did not even vote for the E-verify system. Romney is more conservative on fiscal issues, and he is more conservative on illegal immigration..however, he does not seem to have an over riding interest in lecturing women on the evils of working outside the home.

If Santorum is nominated we’re doomed.. This is a winnable election, but not with a ridiculous candidate like Santorum. He would lose 35 states. 65% evangelical votes in GOP caucus states falls to 20% in the general. Real high priority issues Rick..

Obama’s peeps will frame Santorum as some religious nut that wants to peep in your bedroom, take your birth control away and advocate that women should be in the kitchen. Also, they will make the presidential debate about Santorum’s weird SoCon beliefs instead of the economy. Obviously, the media will help him frame that debate.

rubberneck on February 17, 2012 at 3:43 PM

Of course they’ll try. But tell me, which of the Republican candidates is going to avoid being painted this way? The Mormon? The former Baptist, thrice-divorced new Catholic? The Obama administration is revving up the “Republicans hate contraception” meme already, while they’re still thinking their opponent will be Romney.

Democrats commit character assassination, always. It’s the only thing they do well. So don’t pay any attention to what horse hockey they’re going to generate, ’cause it’s coming no matter who the nominee is.

Of course they’ll try. But tell me, which of the Republican candidates is going to avoid being painted this way? The Mormon? The former Baptist, thrice-divorced new Catholic? The Obama administration is revving up the “Republicans hate contraception” meme already, while they’re still thinking their opponent will be Romney.

Democrats commit character assassination, always. It’s the only thing they do well. So don’t pay any attention to what horse hockey they’re going to generate, ’cause it’s coming no matter who the nominee is.

The Dems don’t care about character, so they wouldn’t care that Newt was divorced. Newt would be painted as a mean-spirited, corrupt blowhard. They might try to smear Romney’s beliefs out in front (perhaps a whispering campaign); however, he is pretty bland and moderate so it would backfire.

Santorum is the only one who actually lends himself to the attacks because he plays into them so readily by being a moral scold and making statements about his distaste for birth control and working women. He plays right into the Democrats hands because he really is a scold who wants to peer into people’s bedrooms and has disdain for people who don’t follow his strict religious beliefs. There might be other Catholic politicians – Jindal or Rubio – who follow the Catholic Church’s teachings to the letter, but we don’t know about these beliefs because they don’t feel the need to publicly discuss their religious beliefs and scold people about their sex lives, family planning decisions, and professional lives.

No, he won’t.

Yes he will.. I always vote Republican, but cannot bring myself to vote for Santorum due to his moral scold attitude. I’m a lapsed Catholic and Santorum perfectly encapsulates all the reasons why. So I guess it will be a protest vote for the libertarian or just leaving the Presidential race blank. You’re lucky that I also don’t like Obama and would never vote for him. There are lots of persuadable indies who will hold their nose and vote for Obama even if they’re upset about the economy.

Obama’s I rubberneck peeps will frame Santorum as some religious nut that wants to peep in your bedroom, take your birth control away and advocate that women should be in the kitchen. Also, they I will make the presidential debate about Santorum’s weird SoCon beliefs instead of the economy. Obviously, the media I will help him them frame that debate. Santorum will lose win by a landslide.